Daily Mail and Dubai

[emmelinemay]

Ok, so we all know what to expect, generally, from the readers of the Daily Mail.

But some of the comments on this article about Diz and other people held in Dubai are just mind boggling.

Sounds like they have got it right in Dubai.
- Chris Downing, Yorkshire

and

Sounds good to me - build more prisons and import these drug prevention controls here please. Many lives would be saved.
- Robert El-Cid., Hull, East Yorks

and

Good on these authorities for actually enforcing the law of the land, I have no pity for the suspects and criminals whom they have caught, some ignorant, some stupid and some simply brazen. It seems that suspect "profiling" is alive, well and working effectively in some parts of the world.

It's a shame that our own establishment is so weak by comparison.
- Perfectly Fair, Edinburgh, Scotland

Fucking idiots.

My favourite comment so far has to be:

I can understand a zero tolerance approach to substance abuse, but this is just anal. What do they expect someone to do with .003g of hash - get an ant high?
- Dave, England

The good thing is that word is getting out, which is bloody brilliant.

Let's just hope that Diz and the others held in similar circumstances can come home soon.

Comments

[a1exxandra.livejournal.com]

Those comments are appalling..
On a more positive note there was also a brief piece in the Metro this morning!

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

The were a number of pieces all over the place - http://users.livejournal.com/_yungfuktoi_/309258.html :)

Some of the comments are actually shocking. People seem to not be able to grasp that these aren't just people who were taking illegal drugs, but people who've got about the same amount of drugs on them as on your average £20, or people on legal prescription drugs.

If I was tested over there, I'd be similarly buggered, as I take dihydrocodeine, prescribed by a doctor, for my migraines.

I could be locked up for 4 years just for having migraine medication. How many tourists looking at all the marketing for Dubai as this wonderful tourist destination are going to know that is a risk?

Did you get my reply to you about the boots btw?

[a1exxandra.livejournal.com]

I did, sorry I haven't replied as am rubbish! The money is absolutely fine, let me know when you'd like to meet up!

I think with the comments, a lot of people just don't think it through before they write. :(

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people don't read it through before they write...

email me, we'll sort out a meeting time and place!

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed by the dual ability to (a) believe that the legal systems in Arab countries are wholly admirable and we could learn a thing or two from them, and (b) react with horror and outrage when the Archbishop of Canterbury suggests that we might amend British law to incorporate some.

I mean, I can do the horror and outrage bit, but that's because I think (a) is bollocks.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

The readers of the Daily Mail have some impressive abilities indeed.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Wait until one of them gets banged up for having a couple of old co-codamol tablets in their toiletry-bag. They'd be on the phone to Amnesty before you could say 'Ha-ha!'

What's the phrase? "A conservative is a liberal who's been burgled, a liberal is a conservative who's been arrested"

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Or for having cocaine on their fifty pound note.

Or for having 0.0003g of hash on their shoe from having walked through a public park.

Or for their ulcer medicine.

[lydiamorgan.livejournal.com]

F*cking morons. *shaking with rage*

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Some of the commenters don't seem to have grasped that it's not all about drugs that are illegal here too.

I think though, it's a shame that so many of the papers that are running the stories are highlighting the ones that were caught with minute amounts of illegal drugs, rather than those held for legal ones. A slightly different angle, or highlighting the 'trace amount' issue by pointing out that pretty much anyone with a £20 could be buggered, might get the point across better.

But then, it *is* the daily mail.

Did you see the comment about 'how does a youth worker afford two homes?' FFS

[lydiamorgan.livejournal.com]

God, I know. It's just willful ignorance, reading the bits they want to read and disregarding the rest. If, say, the elderly mother of one of these people was detained for having codeine for a bad hip or whatever, they'd be up in arms. Are they seriously suggesting that buying over the counter medication in the UK should make you liable for prosecution? They don't seem to realise that this approach leaves innocent people vunerable - anyone can step on a speck of hash. Just left a comment to this effect but doubt it will get published.

"It seems that suspect "profiling" is alive, well and working effectively in some parts of the world..." is just a thinly disguised way of saying 'look at them - a rasta and an alternative guy. They're clearly guilty and deserve everything they get'. I'm so angry. Fcking asshats.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

It's just willful ignorance

yup, that'll be daily mail readers.

I tried to make a comment myself, pointing out that I'd be potentially imprisoned if I went there because of my migraine mediation, but it said they may edit comments and won't necessarily publish them all. So they may not use mine at all.

[unclesatan.livejournal.com]

If only they had arrested Madeline McCann with a head ache, then they'd all be free by now